Interviews

Massive Attack's DJ's Robert "3D" Del Naja ("D") and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall ("G") made such a name for themselves early on in their careers that when they started work on their not-quite-titled fifth album they didn't have to scrounge around for guest spots and remixers. They came to them in droves. Though they couldn't use all of the artists they worked with, the trip hop progenitors have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. In preparation for the album in February, they're releasing their first new material in three years, in the form of a preview remix EP called Splitting the Atom (out October 6th on EMI/Virgin).

After a two-year absence, The Legends (aka Johan Angergård) has returned with Over and Over, his fourth full-length under the moniker. Featuring the single “Seconds Away”—affectionately dubbed “the noisiest pop single to ever come out of Sweden”—the album effortlessly interjects aggressive distortion and white noise into traditional electro-indie pop structures. Under the Radar caught up Angergård via email to discuss multitasking, distortion, and making music in emotionally trying times. More

The saying that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional holds resonance for East London's Findlay Brown. The 29-year-old retro-pop singer/songwriter was lauded in the U.K. as a successor to Nick Drake with his heartrending 2007 debut, Separated by the Sea. Soon after, his soul-baring folk songs found their intended target and coaxed Brown's girlfriend, Marie Nielsen, back from Copenhagen. But Brown's banner 2007 turned sour in October when a cab driver reversed over his ankle, breaking it in two places and shattering his tibia. More

"Sorry for interrupting the chat, I'm just like that, it was late and didn't feel prepared. Love Sally," read an email message from elusive Italo-disco ingénue Sally Shapiro after breaking off a phone interview mid-sentence due to exhaustion. After a pregnant pause, songwriter/ producer Johan Agebjörn, picks up the phone to explain the break in conversation: "She doesn't think her English is good enough." More

Comet Gain first caught my ear on their magnificent 2002 album Réalistes. It was a torrid, visceral Motown and Northern Soul-infused record, guided by an overriding aesthetic of recklessness akin to '80s indie acts, such as Orange Juice and Television Personalities. Anathema to anything remotely resembling careerism, the record tapped into an ethos of not allowing age to be an excuse to lose touch with the redemptive, galvanizing power of art and rock music. Such a philosophy has essentially informed everything they've recorded since. More

Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes is currently in his Athens, Georgia, home studio working on the band's tenth album, which will be titled False Priest and is tentatively due out next spring. We briefly spoke to Barnes this past Wednesday about his progress on False Priest, which he says is influenced by Parliament and the '80s No Wave scene. "We're kind of making this psychedelic, No Wave, funk album," says Barnes. More

Harlem Shakes singer Lexy Benaim says that while working on the band's full-length debut, Technicolor Health, he and the rest of the Brooklyn-based quintet would often laugh about the level of self-scrutinizing. "It wasn't like we came in there punk-rock style and banged it out," says Benaim. "We pay a lot of attention to detail." Often joking that the band's multifaceted compositions could only be fully appreciated by "stoners," he says, "[It's for] the kids that have big headphones on, in their dorm room...those people that really dig into the details of your music. You just love that—when people notice hidden harmony or little things that are super subtle like that." More

It's been over three years since Midlake made a splash with their sophomore effort, The Trials of Van Occupanther, a smooth lilting slice of '70s influenced soft rock littered with Laurel Canyon harmonies and slow rolling beauty. Currently putting the final touches on their third full length, The Courage of Others, guitarist Eric Pulido took a little time out to answer some email questions about the three-year hold up for what sounds like a vastly different, and difficult to record, new album. Midlake has been working on the album for several years now and were actually interviewed in both Under the Radar's "Most Anticipated Albums of 2008" and "Most Anticipated Albums of 2009" issues. Pulido promises less piano and "more guitars, flute, and incense." More

Reflecting on a recent show at Los Angeles' Bordello Bar, Ed Harcourt sounds a bit flustered. "I always seem to be having a bad time on stage," he moans. "And then I get off stage, and I'm shocked when people say it was good." Although, when later expounding on a desire to smarten-up his stage act, Harcourt warns, "I don't think it's ever going to be too slick—I just can't do it." In his head, it's clear that he can envision the perfect performer—or rather a stereotype to avoid. "You can't just be standing there in jeans and a t-shirt, looking at your feet, pressing a few guitar pedals. It gets boring after awhile." More